Chapter 91: One Step Closer

"You know, I'd expected you to sound more enthused about that," Zack offered as Tifa continued to stare at the unevenly spaced black steps leading toward the center of the lake in front of her.

"Yeah…" she commented slowly. "Except these are creepy steps that lead to the center of an empty lake."

"Okay. Stay put," Zack was calm. "Yuffie and I will retrace our steps and we'll be right there. Not like the steps are going anywhere if they've been waiting for centuries. Just stay put."

Tifa was just in the process of forgetting she was on the phone and nodding when Cloud very calmly stepped forward onto the first pillar top. The soles of his boot made the water ripple outward and the glowing lights moved with more speed and determination toward them.

"Cloud – "

She started forward to grab him but he was already calmly making his way to the next pillar and then the next, his long legs making them no more than an easy stride for him. His face was tight but his movements were calm and relaxed and he didn't turn back to look.

"Crap!"

"Tifa? Tifa!" Zack's voice over the phone and it sounded like he was running. She could hear Yuffie chirping in the background. "What's going on?"

"Cloud's going across."

Aerith looked at her but then she shrugged, a 'what can you do?' movement and carefully moved out to balance herself on the first pillar as well.

"Crap…"

"Tifa? Hey, let him go. He's a big boy. We're almost there and we'll catch up to him once we're a group, okay?"

"Yeah. Right," Tifa's tone of voice conveyed her opinion of that as she gingerly moved to the first stone. It stayed steady under her but she didn't trust it. She carefully judged the next distance and tried not to pay attention to the way the water was staring to look white and green around her. "So, it looks like the sleepwalkers have both decided to go across. So I'm going too. And I can't really do this while I'm talking on the phone."

"Tifa, I'm not kidding. Don't you dare hang up!"

"Zack!" she protested as she moved to the next pillar. "I am not going to risk falling in that water. It looks cold."

She moved to the next step and it was really easy to see. Something about all the luminescence in the water right next to it. She kept her eyes very firmly on the stone in front of her and didn't look.

"Babe, I am so not kidding you. I will kill you personally myself if you hang up."

"Hey, Zack" Tifa had to hop a little to reach the next pillar and she used her other arm for balance. "Can you see us? I mean, if you look at the lake, can you see us in the middle of it?"

There was a brief pause with only the sounds of quick breathing and footsteps. When his voice came back it was hard.

"No. I can't, Teef. You need to get back to the shore. Now."

"I can't. Aerith is ahead of me." At least she assumed her friend still was. She didn't dare look away from the little steps to check but she hadn't heard any splash to indicate otherwise. "She's got the key and the steps might disappear when she gets to the other side."

As soon as she said it, she realized that meant she'd end up in the water. With the white, glowing things. She hurried her steps a little and almost slipped.

"Zack, I really can't do this with one hand stuck to my ear."

"Yes, you can. Just pretend it's a tray of drinks and you're taking it across a floor someone's spill beer on. Describe where you were on the shore when the steps showed up so I'll know it when we get there."

Idiot, she chided herself. She should have dug a deep 'x' into the ground or something. A little too late to think of that now though.

"It was trees, Zack. It looked like everywhere else on this damn shore." She moved to the next rock and the next and wondered how far out she had to go before she either fell off the last one or something appeared to give her drier ground. She racked her brain. "There was a break right near the shore in the trees. Aerith sat on a root that went sideways next to the shore but back behind the break. It was big enough for both of us. The tree on the other side had a branch that was lower than the other trees around it and it stuck out over the water, almost as long as my arm. Cloud's footprints might still be in the sand at the edge of the water. He stood there forever. Oh – and the evil white things in the water have all come over to where we are and they're kind of glowy. Does that help?"

His voice came across the phone broken with great patches of silence between the words. She couldn't understand him and a moment later…

The phone went dead.

Tifa paused, just a moment, to shut her eyes. It was just – it was almost too expected. Of course her phone would lose its connection when she was in the middle of an evil lake surrounded by glowing evil eels and the only person acting sane at the moment was on the other end. It was tempting, really very tempting to chuck the phone into the water but she hit its power button a couple of times instead to prove to herself that it really wasn't going to come back on and then she tucked it into her pocket.

"Son of a gun, mother two shoes, last call, evil movie night, crap!" she cursed under her breath, moving a bit faster now that her arms were both free for balance. She even risked a peek in front of her but it was nothing but black water and distant trees. There certainly wasn't sight of either Cloud or Aerith. Tifa narrowed her eyes and moved forward a bit faster. They'd either fallen off the end without a sound or else this damn lake was playing head games. She voted for the latter.

The luminescence was bright around her and she concentrated on where her feet were going. So she noticed when the black rocks turned to a much more common and sensible gray color. Careful not to lose her balance, she looked up again and saw the sky was a hazy white instead of evening black. Ahead of her was a wide sandy bank with Aerith hovering on the edge of it near the lake that was suddenly nothing but clear, normal looking water. It was all Tifa could do not to run the last few steps but she didn't want to risk falling into water that might suddenly turn dark and deep and full of florescent shadows.

She grabbed Aerith's hands as soon as she hit the shore and almost fell into her friend's arms.

"Oh crap!" it seemed to be her theme word for this entire trip so far. "Where did you go? I was so worried." Her head came up and she looked around. "Where's Cloud?"

"There's something wrong," Aerith was distracted and her hands clutched at Tifa. "Something's wrong. I can feel it. Something terrible's just happened!"

Tifa didn't see Cloud anywhere but the small island or whatever it was they were on was covered in fog and she couldn't see far to start with. So she wrapped her hands around her friend's arms and moved her face so her eyes were directly in front of Aerith's. Keeping her voice very calm, she repeated:

"Aerith… where's Cloud?"

Her friend's eyes blinked and there was too much green in them. But they focused on her and Aerith drew in a steadying breath.

"I don't know," she answered weakly. "He was waiting for me when I got to the shore. He helped me off the last stone. I turned around to look for you and when I looked back he was gone. I didn't even hear him leave."

Tifa lifted her head and looked past her friend at the fog-shrouded shore. She couldn't see more than a few feet in any direction. So she called his name.

And then she and Aerith stood in the fog and waited.

Her friend's hand tightened on hers in the silence and Tifa felt something hard and cold close around her heart and start to squeeze.

It was taking too long.

Something dark moved in the fog and for just a moment, Tifa's breathing froze in her chest because she thought it was the same long haired silver and black figure that had been waiting for them in the Nibelheim reactor. And then it was Cloud, sunlight and dark, and she surged forward to throw her arms around him with a soft cry, dragging Aerith with her.

He made a noise when she impacted with him, soft and barely there and he felt wet. His eyes were very blue. But his arms closed around both her and Aerith and held them tightly against himself and his warmth.

"You're soaked!" Aerith protested even though she was holding him just as tightly as Tifa was and, wet or not, didn't seem inclined to let go. He gave a soft grunt that might have been amusement or just a wry sound. Very gently he drew them both higher up onto the shore with him, though he didn't let go of either of them for a moment. His voice was its usual soft calm though as he answered:

"Those lights in the water… they're small dragons and apparently they can come ashore."